SEXTRA CREDIT

Grand jury declines to indict female teacher

Editor’s note: The March edition of Whistleblower magazine pulls the covers off the shocking number of cases of lust-filled teachers, especially women, who have sexual relations with their students. Find out more here!

Another attractive female teacher, charged with having a sexual relationship with a male student, will not be serving any jail time – indeed, a Denton County, Texas, grand jury has refused to issue an indictment of the 25-year-old woman.

border=0>Amy McElhenny

The arrest of Amy McElhenney, a Spanish teacher and cross-country coach at Hebron High School, made national headlines in June when she was charged for sex with an 18-year-old student, with the merits of the case against her being debated on Good Morning America, Inside Edition, Court TV and Fox News’ “O’Reilly Factor.”

While the age of consent in Texas is 17 years, a state law bans sexual relationships between educators and students even if the student is of legal age and the relationship is consensual. If convicted, McElhenny could have faced 20 years in prison.

The law, passed in 2003, has been criticized as too harsh by its critics, even the legislator who proposed the original bill.

Rep. Helen Giddings told the Dallas Morning News she intended her measure to include only students 17 and younger because she wanted to protect high school students not old enough to vote or serve in the military, but the bill was amended by other lawmakers who believed any sexual contact with a student was an abuse of power by an educator.

“If they’re a student I just think they’re off bounds regardless of their age,” said Rep. Warren Chisum, who led the fight to broaden the law. “I felt like if we didn’t do that we just virtually made it open season on students that are 18 years old.”

The Denton County grand jury refused to enforce it in this case, siding with those who believe “age of consent” means precisely that.

McElhenney joins a growing number of female teachers who have had sexual relations with their students and avoided jail time or any other severe penalty.

border=0>Cameo Patch

WND reported this week the case of Cameo Patch, a female high-school substitute teacher in Utah who performed oral sex on a 17-year-old male student, who will serve no jail time for her crime, despite comments from the judge that a man would have likely gone to prison.

“If this was a 29-year-old male and a 17-year-old female, I would be inclined to order some incarceration,” noted 3rd District Judge Mark Kouris during sentencing for Patch.

She was put on probation for 36 months, and ordered to obtain a psycho-sexual evaluation, as well as pay a $2,000 fine.

“The only thing I can say is that I understand the mistake that I made,” Patch told the judge, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. “It opened my eyes to the life I want to live for myself and my [three] kids. I’ll never wind up in this situation again.”

She and her husband divorced last month.

Patch and the boy reportedly met in the classroom, but engaged in the alleged wrongdoing off campus after school. All indications are the sexual activity was consensual.

border=0>Kristen Margrif

As WND reported in June, Kristen Margrif, 27, of Mayville, Mich., was given a one-year delayed sentence on three felony counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a student, meaning she’ll only have to serve probation if she remains trouble-free for a year.

Margrif is also barred from schools and day-care facilities, will have to register as a sex offender for 25 years, and have no contact with people younger than 17 unless approved by a probation officer.

According to the original criminal complaint, Margrif and the teen had sexual relations eight times between June and July 2005. The trysts reportedly took place in her car or at the store where the boy had a summer job.

“I think she should have gone to jail, I’ve stuck by that all along,” the boy’s father told the Fox News Channel. “It’s a horrible, ugly thing that she’s done.”

“We’re very upset. I don’t feel there were enough consequences of actions. Hopefully all involved [are] conscious of the pain our son and family has endured,” he continued. “There’s no remorse at all. She didn’t take responsibility for anything.”

The phenomenon of teachers accused or convicted of having sex with their students has come to the forefront of national and international news in recent years.

Some of the cases involving women have been collected by WND, including:

Adrianne Hockett: Accused of having sex with a 16-year-old special-needs student in a Houston apartment she rented for the get-togethers. The boy has testified the pair would “have sex, drink beer and smoke weed.”

Amber Jennings, 31: Though Jennings was initially charged with having sex with a 16-year-old, the counts against the Sturbridge, Mass., woman were reduced to a single charge of disseminating harmful materials to a minor. She reportedly admitted e-mailing naked photos of herself to a former student. She received no jail time, only two years of probation after pleading guilty.

Amber Marshall, 23: Northwest Indiana woman allegedly had sexual contact, including intercourse, with several students at Hebron High School, and turned herself into authorities, telling police she knew what she did was illegal.

Amira Sa’Di, 30: Clayton County, Ga., woman remarked she didn’t think her relationship was inappropriate based on her Internet research, learning the Peach State’s age of consent is 16.

Amy Gail Lilley, 36: Inverness, Fla., woman and softball coach at Lecanto High School charged with a lesbian relationship with a 15-year-old girl. She received no prison time, being sentenced to two years of house arrest and eight more years of probation.

border=0>Angela Comer

Angela Comer, 26: Middle-school teacher from Tompkinsville, Ky., fled with her alleged lover, her 14-year-old male student, before being tracked down in Mexico where she reportedly planned to marry the boy. She was indicted for illegal sex acts with a minor and returned to Kentucky. Charges include felony custodial interference, two counts of third-degree sodomy and four counts of unlawful transaction with a minor relating to sexual acts.

Angela Stellwag, 24: Delran, N.J., woman accused of having sex in her apartment with a 14-year-old boy she met in school. She was charged with sexual assault for activity that allegedly took place in August 2004. She pleaded not guilty in August 2006.

Beth Raymond, 31: Private-school employee from Pownal, Maine, charged with risk of injury to a minor and second-degree sexual assault of a juvenile male at Eagle Hill School in Greenwich, Conn. In July 2006, she was sentenced to 18 months prison.

Bethany Sherrill, 24: Daughter-in-law of school-board president charged with molesting a 15-year-old middle-school student. Reports state Sherill allegedly had oral sex with the boy and sent him coded text messages. She resigned her position at Jefferson Elementary School in Farmington, Mo.

Cameo Patch, 29: Substitute teacher at Tooele High School in Tooele, Utah, arrested for allegedly performing oral sex on a 17-year-old male student. The sexual activity was allegedly consensual, and reportedly took place off school grounds after the pair had exchanged phone numbers in a restaurant. She was sentenced to no jail time, despite despite comments from the judge that a man would have likely gone to prison.

border=0>Carol Flannigan

Carol Flannigan, 50: Boca Raton, Fla., music teacher reportedly slept with 11-year-old former student, and also had a simultaneous sexual relationship with the boy’s father. In a deposition, the boy’s father said he had the same sort of sexual relationship with Flannigan that ex-President Bill Clinton had with Monica Lewinsky. In February 2006, Flannigan was sentenced to five years prison as part of a plea deal.

border=0>Cathy Heminghaus

Cathy Heminghaus, 46: Special-education teacher from Ferguson, Mo., charged with statutory sodomy involving at least three of her students at Ferguson Middle School. She reportedly told friends she had performed oral sex on the children on several occasions.

Celeste Emerick, 32: Police in Huber Heights, Ohio, say the Wayne High School teacher hosted a party where students were shown pornography. Prosecutors charged her with one count of sexual battery, a felony in Ohio.

Christina Gallagher, 26: Jersey City, N.J., woman received no jail time, but was ordered to pay more than $1,000 in fines, sentenced to a lifetime registration as a convicted sex offender and ordered to attend therapy for having sex with a 17-year-old student in late 2004. The former Rahway High School instructor was banned from teaching and seeing the student with whom she had sex.

Christine Duda, 39: Teacher at the Normandy Alternative School in St. Louis County, Mo., allegedly took a 16-year-old hearing-impaired male student to her home for sex in December 2005. She was charged with two counts of felony statutory rape and fired by the school district.

Christine Scarlett, 36: English teacher at Strongsville High School in Ohio began a sexual relationship with the 17-year-old captain of the football team, Steven Bradigan, in November 2002 and eventually gave birth to Bradigan’s son. Scarlett was fired from her teaching job, but insists nothing improper happened during the time she was Bradigan’s teacher. She was never charged with any criminal wrongdoing.

border=0>Deanna Bobo

Deanna Bobo, 37: Special-education teacher at Raymond E. Wells Junior High School in Greenwood, Ark., allegedly had sex twice with a 14-year-old boy in his own bed while his parents were not home. She has denied the charge, and has since been charged with assaulting a second boy.

Diane DeMartini-Scully, 45: Mattituck, N.Y., woman was the school psychologist at East Hampton Middle School on Long Island when she was accused of having sex with the 16-year-old boyfriend of her own 13-year-old daughter. She allegedly had intercourse and oral sex with the boy on a number of occasions in May 2005 in her home and car. She was arrested after allegedly secretly visiting her young paramour at his new home in North Carolina.

Donna Carr Galloway, 33: Married mother of two found naked in a car with a 17-year-old student.

Elisa Kawasaki, 25: Biology teacher from Fresno, Calif., area, pleaded no contest to sex with a teen boy, and prosecutors dropped four other counts.

Elizabeth Miklosovic, 36: Grand Rapids, Mich., teacher at South Haven’s Baseline Middle School pleaded no contest to sexually assaulting a 14-year-old female student she “married” in a pagan ritual in June 2004. Miklosovic is also accused of touching the girl’s genitals while camping in public parks. She told the judge before sentencing, “The entire ordeal has been blown totally out of proportion for something that was innocent, kind and nurturing in nature.” She was sentenced to five to 25 years.

Elizabeth Stow, 26: Tulare Western High School teacher from Fresno, Calif., area convicted of having sex with three of her students was sentenced to nine years, but the judge suspended that sentence and gave her one year, followed by five years of probation. She was also ordered to register as a sex offender.

Ellen Garfield, 43: Former student at Solomon Schecter School in Newton, Mass., said his music teacher took him into an empty classroom where she worked, partially disrobed, and coaxed him into having sex with her in 1998. Garfield was acquitted of all charges in September 2005.

Emily Morris, 28: Teacher at Leeds High School in St. Clair County, Ala., faced a possible 20-year sentence, but received one year in jail for having consensual sex with a 15-year-old student.

Erica Rutters, 29: Teacher at Oxford Christian Academy in New Oxford, Pa., allegedly wrote erotic messages to a 16-year-old student and had sexual intercourse with him four times in her apartment. She pleaded guilty to corruption of a minor, and received no jail time, just three years of probation in March 2006.

Georgianne Harrell, 24: Teacher at Holley Elementary School in Sylvester, Ga., charged with performing oral sex on a 9-year-old boy in April 2005, allowing students to gaze down her blouse and slashing her wrists with glass in front of her students. Though she originally pleaded not guilty, she changed her plea to guilty just before trial, and was sentenced to 25 years in prison for aggravated child molestation.

Gwen Cardozo, 33: Teacher at Wasson High School in Colorado Springs, Colo., accused of having sex with a 17-year-old male student. Police charged her with sexual assault on a child by one in a position of trust, and Cardozo resigned her position in March 2005. She pleaded guilty in July 2005 and received a deferred sentence, meaning no jail time if she remains trouble-free for four years.

Heather Ingram, 30: Mathematics, science and business teacher at Chatelech Secondary School in Sechelt, British Columbia, had sex with a 17-year-old student. The relationship cost Ingram her job and reportedly led to the breakup of her 12-year common-law marriage to a man four years her senior.

Jacquelyn Faith Garrison, 19: Substitute teacher at South Central High School in Winterville, N.C., was indicted in January 2006 on charges she was having an improper relationship with a 15-year-old student. The case involves some 50 phone calls and text messages exchanged between Garrison and the boy, who reportedly became uncomfortable when things of a sexual nature came up.

border=0>Janelle Bird

Janelle Marie Bird, 24: Accused of having a two-year affair with a 15-year-old student from East Hill Christian School, in Pensacola, Fla. She was charged with two counts of lewd and lascivious battery and two counts of unlawful sexual activity with a minor.

border=0>Jaymee Wallace

Jaymee Wallace, 28: Basketball coach in Tampa, Fla., charged with having an 18-month lesbian relationship with a student. Authorities say the student, who was 15 when she met Wallace, voluntarily had sex with the coach more than 50 times, in a parking lot at Busch Gardens and often at Wallace’s own apartment while a fellow classmate was in an adjacent room. According to the police report, the sexual relationship reportedly began in early 2003, after the student received a note from Wallace saying she “found her attractive and wanted to know if she felt the same way.”

Joan Marie Sladky, 28: Redwood City, Calif., woman sentenced to six months in county jail for having sex with a 16-year-old student after pleading no contest to four counts of unlawful sexual intercourse, oral copulation and penetration with a foreign object. The Spanish teacher’s relationship with the boy spanned six months, as she reportedly had sex with him once at his home and three times at her residence, which was on the property of the private Baptist church and school where she taught.

Katherine Tew, 30: Married English teacher from Greenville, N.C., arrested for having sex with a 17-year-old boy. She taught at South Central High School in Winterville, N.C., and was convicted of taking indecent liberties with a child, but found not guilty of the more serious sex charge. She was not given prison time, and lost her teaching license for at least two years.

Kathy White, 39: Teacher at Lumberton High School in Lumberton, Texas, charged with having sex with a 17-year-old student. The victim, Michael Ferguson, alleges: “She just started grabbing me and hormones were on and it just happened.” Ferguson provided KBTV-TV with an e-mail allegedly sent by White, in which the teacher told him, “I get these cravings for YOU and that’s not NORMAL! If I had it my way, I’d do you once a week just because it’s good.”

Kelly Lynn Dalecki, 28: Elementary-school teacher from St. Augustine, Fla., pleaded no contest to charges she had sex with a 13-year-old boy in 2003. The boy’s parents reportedly found more than 50 sexually explicit e-mails and pornographic pictures allegedly sent by Dalecki on his computer. Dalecki was sentenced to nearly a year in prison.

Kristen Margrif, 27: Mayville, Mich., teacher accused of having sex with a 16-year-old male student in her car or at his summer workplace in June and July 2005. She was given a one-year delayed sentence in June 2006 on three felony counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a student, meaning she’ll only have to serve probation if she remains trouble-free for a year.

border=0>Kristi Oakes

Kristi Dance Oakes, 32: Teacher allegedly had sex with a 16-year-old boy who was in her biology class the previous year. Oakes resigned from her post at Seymour High School in Sevierville, Tenn., and reportedly lost her home and even the job she took at a grocery store after resigning from the school system because of the charges. In July 2006, she pleaded guilty and was sentenced to six months in jail.

Lakina Stutts, 40: School-bus driver admitted to cops she had sex with a 14-year-old student in her home and in a car outside the boy’s home.

Laura-Anne Brownlee, 26: Former music mistress at a top private school in Belfast, N. Ireland, was given a six-month suspended sentence on charges of indecently assaulting a 15-year-old boy.

Laura Lynn Findlay, 30: Band teacher at Ricker Middle School in Buena Vista Township, Mich., charged with having sex with at least 5 students, one as young as 14. She was sentenced in August 2006 to at least seven and as much as 25 years in prison.

Lynn Saunders, 38: A former basketball star at the College of Staten Island, the gym teacher at St. Paul’s School in New Brighton, N.Y., was arrested in March 2005 for allegedly molesting a 12-year-old girl whose family she had befriended. Saunders admitted to touching the girl’s breasts and genital area on several dates in February 2005. She received no jail time, only probation and registration as a sex offender. The family is now suing Saunders and the Archdiocese of New York, claiming the girl became suicidal and still suffers from “severe emotional shock, trauma, embarrassment, anxiety and other psychological injuries.”

border=0>Margaret De Barraicua

Margaret De Barraicua, 30: Sacramento, Calif., area woman arrested after police found her having sex with a 16-year-old male student in her car while the woman’s toddler was strapped into a seat in the back. She pleaded guilty to four felony counts of statutory rape and was sentenced to a year in jail and five years formal probation.

Maria Saco, 28: Math teacher at Lincoln Middle School in Passaic, N.J., sentenced in 2005 to a year in jail for an intimate relationship with a teen student who was 14 when they first met. Saco reportedly gave the boy a key to her apartment.

Mary Kay Letourneau, 34: Des Moines, Wash., teacher did prison time after having sex with a sixth-grade student, Vili Fualaau, in 1996 and eventually had two children by him. She originally had Fualaau in her second-grade class at Shorewood Elementary School in Burien, Wash. The couple has since married.

Melissa Michelle Deel, 32: Bristol, Tenn., teacher at Virginia Middle School pleaded guilty to crossing the state line into Virginia to have oral sex with a 13-year-old male student. As part of her plea agreement, Deel agreed never to profit from the crime, as well as have no contact with the boy and his family without court permission. She was sentenced to a year and two months prison.

Michelle Kush, 29: Substitute teacher at Boone County High School in Florence, Ky., allegedly had sex with a 15-year-old boy several times during summer break. She was charged with two counts of rape and one sodomy count. In August 2006, Kush was sentenced to 60 days in jail, 30 days on house arrest and five years probation.

Nicola Prentice, 22: British woman from Sheffield, England, given a 12-month suspended jail sentence after she seduced a 16-year-old student and began a 19-month affair.

border=0>Nicole Barnhart

Nicole Andrea Barnhart, 35: Highlands Ranch, Colo., woman reportedly told police she loves the 16-year-old boy with whom she was having sex. A teacher at Ponderosa High School, she pleaded guilty to felony sexual assault on a child, resulting in a two-year prison sentence and a minimum of 10 years in a sex-offender probation program.

border=0>Nicole Long

Nicole Long, 29: English teacher at Ayersville High School in Ohio resigned her teaching post after being accused of raping a 17-year-old boy. She pleaded guilty in January 2005 to a charge of sexual battery, and was sentenced in March to three months in jail.

Nicole Pomerleau, 31: English teacher at Olympic High School in Charlotte, N.C., arrested in March 2004 for allegedly having a sexual relationship with her 16-year-old student. The age of consent in North Carolina is 16, but teachers having sex with students is an exception to the law. Though Pomerleau admitted the affair, she got no prison time and did not have to register as a sex offender.

Pamela Smart, 22: Media-services director at Winnacunnet High School in Hampton, N.H., had convinced her 15-year-old lover to murder her husband. She was arrested in 1993 and is now serving a life sentence. The Nicole Kidman film “To Die For” is based on her story.

Pamela Rogers Turner, 27: Former model and beauty-pageant contestant also taught at Centertown Elementary School in McMinnville, Tenn. She was arrested in February 2005 for allegedly having a three-month sexual relationship with a 13-year-old boy. She resigned her teaching position and was charged with 15 counts of sexual battery and 13 counts of statutory rape. Originally sentenced to 270 days in August 2005, she got in additional trouble in April 2006 for sending text messages, nude photos, and sex videos of herself to the same boy while using her father’s cellphone. In July 2006, she was sentenced to seven years for violating her probation.

Rachelle Vantucci, 32: Ex-substitute teacher from Geneseo, N.Y., admitted having sex with a 16-year-old boy she met at a local riding stable. After pleading guilty, Vantucci agreed to surrender her teaching license and register as a sex offender.

Rebecca Boicelli, 33: Redwood City, Calif., woman gave birth to a baby last year and DNA test results gave prosecutors enough evidence to prove the father is Boicelli’s former student, who was 16 at the time of conception. She was sentenced to two years in prison.

Rhianna Ellis, 24: Social-studies teacher at the High School for Health Professions and Human Services in Manhattan, N.Y., allegedly began a 10-month sexual relationship with an 17-year-old player on the school’s basketball team, and reportedly gave birth to his baby. The teen boy even introduced Ellis to his parents, never indicating she was his teacher.

Robin Gialanella, 26: Teacher at Silver Bay Elementary School in Toms River, N.J., engaged in kissing, and inappropriate conduct and conversations with two sixth-grade boys, ages 11 and 12, in 2003 and 2004. She was sentenced to 364 days in jail with psychotherapy, must register as a sex offender, will be under lifetime supervision and must surrender her New Jersey teaching certificate.

Robin Winkis, 29: English teacher at Central York High School in York, Pa., allegedly had sex with a 17-year-old boy after giving him alcohol. Authorties accused her of five alleged sex acts during October and November 2005. She pleaded guilty as part of a deal, and was sentenced to two to 23 months in jail.

Samantha Solomon, 29: Guidance counselor at the High School for Health Professions and Human Services in Manhattan, N.Y. was fired after school bosses learned she was having sex with a teenage boy. She denies the allegations, attributing them to rumors gone wild.

Sandra “Beth” Geisel, 42: English teacher at Christian Brothers Academy, an all-boys school in Albany, N.Y., allegedly had sex three times with a 16-year-old male student in May 2005, including once on school grounds in the football stadium’s press box. Originally indicted in September for three counts of third degree rape, she pleaded guilty to a single count of rape and was sentenced to six months in jail, and ranked as a Level 1 sex offender, the lowest risk.

Shelley Allen, 35: Teacher’s aide from Cherokee County, Texas, was arrested in June 2005. Allen was charged with sexual assault of a child and faces a possible 20 years behind bars.

Shelley White, 24: Geography teacher in Britain had been engaged to be married before she kissed a 15-year-old student on at least three occasions. She avoided jail, but received 12 months community service.

border=0>Sherry Brians

Sherry Brians, 41: Middle-school language-arts instructor in Buttonwillow, Calif., originally arrested in January 2006 on suspicion of engaging in lewd acts with a 12-year-old male student, a felony that involves sexual contact. She pleaded not guilty to two counts of annoying or molesting a child under 18.

Stephanie Burleson: Volleyball coach and teacher at Floresville High School in Texas six years ago, pleaded guilty to all charges for molesting a 16-year-old female student. She was sentenced to 10 years probation, and required to register as a sex offender.

Susan Eble, 35: Former teacher’s aide is accused of having a sexual relationship with a 14-year-old boy.

Tara Lynn Crisp, 29: Police allege she had sex with a student at least three times beginning when he was 14.

Toni Lynn Woods, 37: Middle-school teacher in Braxton County, W.Va., confessed in 2005 to having sexual intercourse with three juveniles a total of four times and oral sex with one of those juveniles and another juvenile a total of four times. She reportedly described herself as a “monster” when she pleaded guilty. She resigned, surrendered her teaching certificate, and was given consecutive sentences of one-to-five years on four counts of third-degree sexual assault.

border=0>Traci Tapp

Traci Tapp, 28: Gym teacher at Hammonton High School in New Jersey accused of sexual contact with three male students, including having sex in her home multiple times in one night with a 16-year-old. In January 2006, she avoided any jail or probation time by admitting inappropriate touching, but she lost her teaching license.